


Of Curiosity and Satisfaction

by DT Maxwell (Draya)



Series: Of Dancing Shadows and Glittering Eyes [3]
Category: Fallen London | Echo Bazaar
Genre: (should have drunk that Lethean tea), Ali's sense of self-preservation is occasionally terrible, Ambition: Light Fingers, Gen, Spoilers, The Orphanage, Threats of Violence, and Midnight doesn't always succeed at appealing to it, here's the first part of a situation where Ali should have listened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2016-06-19
Packaged: 2018-07-16 01:27:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7246651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draya/pseuds/DT%20Maxwell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aliénor has gotten involved in matters she shouldn't have - not that she cares. Secrets are fun, and a labyrinth with a prison-like Orphanage at the heart of it? Even more so.</p>
<p>For the moment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Curiosity and Satisfaction

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written and posted to my tumblr in late March 2016. Spoilers for Ambition: Light Fingers.

At the mouth of an alleyway, off Elderwick in Flowerdene, marked with an eye on the brick, there stood a slim woman. Her dress was dark and modest, unassuming and forgettable, hair pinned neatly beneath a hat with a veil attached that obscured her features. A large queen cat, fur long and plush and black as shadow, was draped across the woman’s shoulders.

Soft-as-Midnight curled a little tighter around the woman’s neck, staring unblinking at the brick archway at the alley’s opposite end. “We are being watched,” the cat murmured into the woman’s ear.

Aliénor hummed softly, her focus on the currents of fog coiling around one another at the labyrinth’s maw. “Edward’s men?” Her voice was as low and soft as the ink-black queen’s.

“More than likely.”

Aliénor hummed again, and a smug grin tugged at the corner of her mouth.

Midnight’s elegantly fluffy tail lashed against the human's throat. “You are an impertinent kitten,” Midnight said, “and you will only have yourself to blame when you end up in a box in the ground.”

“I owe a favor,” Ali said simply, and reached up to scratch the cat at the base of her spine. Midnight’s purr was grudging.

The thief continued, letting a throaty French accent coat her words, “Besides, _ma chéri_ , you dislike being told what to do by the Masters’ minions just as much as I, and contrariness is in both our natures. And you know better than most that secrets are currency, and what is this but another secret for the knowing?”

“Arrogant chit, using my owns words against me,” Midnight growled.

“Oh, please, if you weren’t as curious as I, you wouldn’t be here at all,” Ali snapped. She barely resisted the urge to stomp her foot.

“Curiosity killed the cat.”

“And satisfaction brought her back!”

“The possibility exists,” Midnight said slowly, as if speaking to a particularly stupid kitten, “that satisfaction will make her _permanently_  dead.”

Ali huffed and crossed her arms, lower lip jutting out in a sullen pout. Midnight’s tail continued to lash.

After five minutes of tense silence, Midnight finally said, “The argument for caution needed to be made.”

Ali sighed and dropped her arms to her sides. “I know,” she said.

The queen cat butted Ali’s cheek with her head. “Candles?”

“Many.” Ali patted her skirts, and took a candle out of a hidden pocket.

“Matches?”

“More than candles.” With a flick of her wrist, Ali had a match in her other hand. She struck it against the brick of the alley and a spark of flame shuddered into life. She lit the candle, then shook out the match and dropped the charred stick to the cobblestones, wisps of smoke curling up to dissipate into the gloom.

“Chalk?”

Wordless this time, Ali flicked her wrist again, and a piece of white chalk practically glowed against her dark gloves.

Midnight sighed heavily. “Onward, then.”

Ali squared her shoulders and strode down the alley. She passed under the brick arch into the labyrinth, and then she and her feline companion were swallowed by the fog.

**Author's Note:**

> The second part of Ali's adventures in regards to the Orphanage will be posted tomorrow. The conclusion is currently in the works.


End file.
